From Bad to 'Sad': Corporate Coverage

tmcsorley, 21.08.2007 11:16

A look at the mis-coverage of the yesterday's SPP protests

From bad to sad

Readers, watchers and listeners of Canada’s major news outlets would be excused if they wondered whether journalists were all covering the same events in Montebello, Qc, yesterday. Despite the presence of cameras from CTV, CBC, SRC, TVA, TQS, reporters from the Montreal Gazette, the Canadian Press, Toronto Star, Ottawa Citizen, La Presse, Le Devoir and from various radio outlets, coverage varied drastically across the spectrum in what actions police took, how many protesters were present and why they were there.

By far the most inconsistent coverage of the day was the number of protesters present outside Chateau Montebello. Reports ranged from a few dozen (as reported yesterday afternoon on CTV.ca) to nearly 5,000 (as reported in Agence France Presse). Most outlets settled on the vague number of ‘several hundred,’ despite the face that many also covered the fact that 12 buses arrived from Montreal and nearly 20 from Ottawa – those numbers alone amount to 1,500 protesters. Even the RCMP, though, placed the number higher than many media – officially reporting there were 1200 protesters. On the ground reports from independent journalists placed the number closer to between 1600 and 2000.

The most consistent, though, was Stephen Harper’s comment on how ‘sad’ the protest was. Not a single article passed up the one statement that Harper deemed to make about the people amassed outside, far from the luxurious halls of the Chateau. “I've heard it's nothing,” the prime minister reportedly said. “A couple of hundred? It's sad.” Article after article used this one line to show, whether directly or indirectly, how little effect the protests had on the assembled leaders. Yet few chose to challenge Harper’s take on the protest, or why it was so difficult for protesters to get their message through: the intense police presence, the four-metre high fence, the lack of any public consultation on the issues discussed. And while most mentioned that protesters defiantly chose to eschew the sanctioned protest zones established by security forces, little was said about why.

In fact, missing from most coverage was any true analysis of the “why” of the protests. Coverage focussed primarily on the fact the issues and groups present were wide-ranging, yet somehow avoided truly delving into what those issues were. A brief survey of the crowd showed environmentalists, feminists, trade unionists, anarchists, Maoists, anti-war activists and queer activists. As most media outlets accurately reported, confrontation between police and protesters only really began in the late afternoon. That left five hours for reporters to get the opinions of those assembled on the streets of Montebello, more than enough time to do more than a cursory over-view. Instead, though, focus remained on the balancing act between demonstrators and riot police, every tear-gas canister launched, every water-bottle thrown, every shove from either side documented and recorded.

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le devoir made that comment front page 21.08.2007 - 11:50 The comment from harper made the Devoir front page, so it *was* covered, albeit by a "leftist/intellectualist" newspaper... anarcat> Disappointingly normal 21.08.2007 - 15:34 A friend and I commented about the piss-poor corpo-state media coverage on the way back yesterday and early today. When the press bothered to report on the summit at all, it mostly involved pathetically shallow descriptions of the menu at the Chateau, piffle about borders and the economy, and a paltry reference to the demonstrations. It's as if the press doesn't even take the meeting itself seriously, never mind the opposition to massive transnational frameworks developed with no consultation or consideration of anyone beyond the rich 'n powerful. To that end, it was a privilege and a pleasure to participate in the Indymedia coverage yesterday. Thanks to the collective for giving me, and numerous others, the chance to help out and provide coverage of all the anti-SPP actions! Mark Bialkowski> Sad 21.08.2007 - 19:12 What a sad sack bunch of protesters...all 1200 hundred of them. Jim Jones> Curious 22.08.2007 - 06:31 What did you do? Stay home and sit on the couch? So...>